Tammi Chun appointed executive director of the Hawaii P-20 Initiative

HONOLULU — Tammi Chun has been named executive director of the Hawaiʻi P-20 Initiative, a collaboration of the Good Beginnings Alliance, Department of Education, and the University of Hawaiʻi.

As executive director, Chun facilitates contact between the heads of the Initiative‘s three founding institutions (P-20 Leadership Team) and the Initiative‘s planning and policy-setting council (P-20 Council) with business partners, community groups and the general public. She will be responsible for the overall administration of the Initiative and for directing its strategic projects, which include a six-year, $15-million GEAR UP Hawaiʻi state grant that focuses on preparing secondary students for college, and an eight-year, $10-million W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant with the goal of every child in Hawaiʻi reading on grade level by third grade.

"With Tammi Chun‘s leadership as executive director, the Hawaiʻi P-20 Initiative is poised to develop the strong business and community partnerships we need to continue to make great strides in improving the educational outcomes for Hawaiʻi‘s residents," said David McClain, president of the University of Hawaiʻi System.

Chun comes to the position with significant experience working across educational sectors and with a variety of partners. Most recently, she was director of GEAR UP Hawaiʻi, a federal program at the University of Hawaiʻi whose mission is to significantly increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.

Previously, she researched educational and social policy at the RAND Corporation and the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She also worked at the Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now (LEARN) facilitating school reform in the nation‘s third largest school district.

Chun holds a BA from Pomona College and an MPP from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She has been involved in numerous community organizations including Envision Hawaiʻi, Blood Bank of Hawaiʻi, and the Kakaʻako Christian Fellowship Church where she serves as a member of the management team.

Chun assumes leadership of the Initiative, which was previously led by Kathy Jaycox. Jaycox served as interim executive director since 2002, and helped to lay the foundation for the Initiative, including establishing the P-20 Council and Strategic Plan. During Jaycox‘s tenure, a $500,000 W.K. Kellogg Foundation planning grant was awarded to the Initiative and supported the development of the P-20 Strategic Plan. This led to the current $10 million award from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for "Capturing the Momentum, P-3 Initiative." Jaycox will be continuing with the Initiative as senior associate.

ABOUT THE HAWAIʻI P-20 INITIATIVEThe purpose of the Hawaiʻi P-20 Initiative is to address the challenges of the "educational pipeline" in Hawaiʻi, beginning with early learning, continuing with formal schooling from pre-K to postsecondary, and lasting throughout one‘s life. The Initiative‘s mission is to increase educational outcomes for Hawaiʻi‘s people by increasing the output of the educational pipeline and closing the "achievement gap" between groups that have been successful in the pipeline and those that have not. The Initiative is led by University of Hawaiʻi System President David McClain, Department of Education Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto, and Good Beginnings Alliance Executive Director Elisabeth Chun. For more information on the Hawaiʻi P-20 Initiative, visit www.p20.hawaii.org.